ICE

c h a p t e r 2

It's the quarter finals today, Timothy is on his way to pick me up. He's my dance partner, and we've been partners for the last 5 years. We win almost all of our competitions, he's like my lucky charm.

This competition is really important to me. My dream college's dean is going to be at finals, and if I win there's a high chance I'll get a scholarship at the college. We can't afford for me to go there so the scholarship is my only option.

I hear a car horn outside. "Goodbye!" I shout as I make my way towards the front door.

"Good luck!" My dad shouts from the kitchen.

As I step out of the house I'm greeted by Timothy's blue Mini Cooper.

"Are you ready for today?" He asks as I get inside, shutting the door behind me.

"Yes, I'm exited. Is Darren coming?" I ask him as he pulls out of my street. Darren is Timothy's boyfriend of 3 years. I'm the one who set them up on a date. I take credit for their beautiful relationship.

"Yeah but he has to leave halfway through because he's going to Florida to visit his grandma", he says annoyed.

"Oh is she sick!?" I asked

"Yeah she's old", he says.

"You can't get mad at her for that" I say while raising an eyebrow at him.

"It's not like she's gonna remember him visiting her anyway", he says with his eyes remaining on the road.

"Well she can't help having dementia" I said

"Yeah but she forgets by choice. She can't stand her grandson being with me so she forgets him all together", he says

"Well she's gonna die soon anyway so don't worry about it", I say

*

We made our way into the arena, where the competition was being held and headed straight to the changing rooms.

Today was duos, next week is solos, and the week after which is the final is duos and solos.

We walk to the seats around the rink and spot Darren. "Hey" Darren says as he sees us and gives Timothy a peck on the lips. "Hey Willow, you both ready?"

"Ready as we'll ever be", I say while smiling and give him a small hug.

"Hey look who's come to watch", Timothy says while pointing to the doors.

I look over and see my brother and Chloe. "What are they doing here?" I say under my breath walk over to them.

"What are you guys doing here?" I say as I reach them.

"I came to support my best friend", Chloe says with a smile

"Yeah and I decided to come too. I used to love watching you and mom do this and hockey seasons over now so why not.", Austin says from next to her

"Well Thanks. Look, I've got to go because they'll be calling us on to skate soon. But thanks for coming", I walk back towards Timothy.

"Next dancers, Timothy Kingston and Willow Lopez", the speaker says into the microphone.

"Ready?" Timothy says as he takes my hand. "Yep" I reply and we skate out into the middle of the rink when the spotlight hits us. Making everything around us black and silent.

We got into our positions and our song started to play, unconditionally by Katy Perry. Timothy picked it, he's a Katie fan. We started off slow and then went into lifts and spins when the chorus hit. Then on the last chorus, during the beat drop we did a fast triple jump into the air.

The song ended and so did our dance. The lights came back on and I saw the judges faces. Then the audience erupted into applauses. I took Timothy's hand and we bowed.

We smiled at each other then hugged "ahhhh we did it", I said to him.

We made our way of the ice and towards the seats. That's when Chloe, Austin and Darren came up to us.

"You did so well" Darren says while kissing Timothy.

"Ahhh well done Will" Chloe says to me as she hugs me. As she pulls away I'm greeted by my brother smiling.

Unexpectedly he pulls me into a hug "You did good. Let's hope you get through to the semi finals" he says

*

"It's now time to announce the winners. So would the competitors come back to the rink please", the voice says from the speakers

We make our way into the ice, and stood next to the rest of the skaters.

"Okay step forward when I read your names", the judge says

"Amy Windsor and Ben Hill"
"Sabrina Smith and Charlie Dunhill"
"Tessa Green and Jordan Mayre"
"Anna Ford and Sam Ball"
"Blaire Reed and Jackson Black"

Me and Timothy look at each other knowing we haven't been picked.

"The people who have stepped forward, I'm sorry guys but it's not your year" the judge says "congratulations to the rest of you. We'll see you at the semi-finals"

Me and Timothy look at each other again but this time with happiness and shock. We hug while laughing.

*

Me and Timothy are now on our way home from the competition. I assumed that Austin was going to take me back with him and Chloe but they took off while I was in the changing rooms. So I stuck with my original plan of Timothy taking me home.

"We won, We won, We won", Timothy cheers as we drive.

"Well we haven't won yet", I say

"Stop being so negative. Next week you'll definitely get through with your solo and then the week after well smash the duo and you'll smash the solo again" he says and I laugh

As I'm laughing I turn towards Timothy and spot a black car coming towards the side of us at a high speed "Timothy! Watch out"